Hi folks,
Quick update for you. According to The Telegraph and The Mail this morning, Michael Gove might be shaking things up at Natural England by stripping the agency of its powers over bird kill licences, transferring the task instead to Defra - which might not be the best outcome.... Although this development seems to be in the wake of the publicity following the Wild Justice challenge, I feel sure that our petition, currently at 316,000 signatures, will have had a huge bearing on the government's decision to rethink the whole sorry state of the licencing system. As for the merits of handing the responsibility to Defra, well we can only hope that, if it happens, then a thorough review of all the licences will also take place at the same time. I'll certainly keep pushing for changes that will offer more protection to our declining bird species, whoever is in charge. On another matter, there was a short-lived backlash affecting our campaign, resulting from the recent media coverage following the revoking of three general licences. I had people contacting me, some of them apparently having signed our petition, complaining that this was not the outcome they wanted. I just want to make it clear that the revoking of the general licences was not a result of our campaign, which is concerned quite specifically with licences issued to kill protected species. We have brought 65+ species under the umbrella of the petition which is aimed at making the licencing system both more transparent and more accountable. We'd ideally like to see red and amber listed birds offered much more protection, while making the whole process less open to misuse and with better monitoring of licences. I'm happy to see extra protection for all birds but our petition is not connected with the Wild Justice campaign which concerned only those birds covered by general licences (Crows, Magpies etc.). That said, clearly the influence from both of our campaigns, though unrelated, will have been putting pressure on the agency to make changes across the board. As Wild Justice's Dr Mark Avery pointed out to me a little while ago "we are sure that our legal case, and your blogging generally, will be pushing Natural England into a corner on licensing" Okay, so onward! Once we know what the government intends to do I will no doubt update further! Best, Jase
63 Comments
3/5/2019 11:47:28 am
The coincidence is too great to believe that Defra has any good intentions. It is not a department to be trusted at the best of times.
Reply
Robert L Watson
3/5/2019 12:14:07 pm
As a retired gamekeeper/stalker in the Scottish Highlands I found it very strange when Natural England actually put ravens on its kill list as they are simply great at cleaning up the hills of dead and dying birds, small mammals, white hares and deer gralochs ( the contents of the body) etc.. Never seen one actually kill for food themselves.
Reply
Chris Conway
3/5/2019 02:26:32 pm
'Natural ' England should be stripped of any power regarding Britain's wildlife!! but DEFRA???!! No WAY they approve the barbaric recoverable stun for animals & poultry at slaughterhouses even after being told by vets that is as cruel or more cruel than no stun!!
Reply
BERNARD Greenwood
3/5/2019 04:54:56 pm
I signed this petition but feel I was misled.I signed because the only bird mentioned was Raven . I did not realise that pests such as magpies,crows, pigeons were to be protected.My fault ,I know,but I will be more careful before signing any petition in future.
Reply
tammy
3/5/2019 10:48:58 pm
Why must only ravens be protected? other birds are living beings too and are necessary in the natural world!
Pamela Allen
4/5/2019 01:32:48 pm
In reply to Bernard Greenwood - Nature is not a 'pest', a certain bird is not a 'pest', a weed ie wild flowers,stinging nettles, brambles and the like are not a 'pest', the only Real pest on this planet - US!
BERNARD Greenwood
4/5/2019 04:16:34 pm
Hi Tammy and Pamela Ann 1. I can testify to having had contact with some human pests 2.No such thing as animal pests ? Cockroaches, Bed Bugs, Head Lice.Mosquitoes Thousands suffering agonising death from Black Death carrying Rats and Fleas.3. Human Beings doing whatever they have to do to survive are only acting in the same way as the animals you approve of.Bye.
Pamela Allen
7/5/2019 11:08:41 am
In reply to Bernard Greenwood second comments -
vanessa
4/5/2019 10:49:26 am
Defra has a shocking record over the culling of badgers. It has refused to look at vaccinations of the populations of badgers. DO NOT TRUST DEFRA.
Reply
Rosemary Sprenger
4/5/2019 11:41:05 pm
I tend to agree with Tammy and Pamela Ann - everything was put on this planet for a purpose and humankind is messing things up by destroying forests etc. and in millions of other ways.
Angie Neilson
7/5/2019 06:29:28 pm
I agree, DEFRA are not to be trusted. They are not thorough in their checks and are not animal friendly.
Reply
Steve Murray
3/5/2019 11:49:10 am
It's a complicated issue. I have every sympathy with famers concerned about their livestock/crops. There must be a reasonable compromise which will allow farmers to control those species which cause damage but protect the rest. I have a lifelong passion for birds/wildlife but there needs to be reasonable discussion.about a complex issue.
Reply
Gerry
3/5/2019 01:14:00 pm
I agree. What is needed is sensible compromise. There are definite problems, they should not be ignored. The power of these petitions should be to get that debate going, not to just close a door.
Reply
Linda
8/5/2019 05:03:56 pm
It's always unwise to allow any interested party - in this case farmers - to decide whether a specific law applies to them (or not).
Reply
John
3/5/2019 11:49:25 am
Reminds me of the old saying - "be careful what you wish for - You might just get it" DEFRA is is certainly not a forward step.
Reply
Aileen Cheetham
3/5/2019 11:50:49 am
If a species is protected it is for a reason. Given us a pandering fool. Save the Birds.
Reply
I hope so, as I agree certain species need protection, however for the majority of you whom do not live in the beautiful country side as it would be put it is all so cruel ! and barbaric ! when crows and magpie and other birds kill the lambs and others before they are out of the mother, ah but that's nature and we are mammals. come spend a day with me and tell me to stand by and watch or I think you will beg me to pull the trigger after the first eye has been plucked out of the lamb before it's even borne
Reply
Dr Marsha Levine
3/5/2019 12:45:11 pm
Crows and magpies were here long before sheep. It would be a sorry world without them. It's all about the web of life. You seem completely out of touch.
Reply
3/5/2019 09:50:25 pm
Totally agree .the comments here despite years of persecution of our native birds are fussing about compromise! No its about time the tables turned . I think what more control on behalf of the birds will achieve is that at least there wont be will nilly destruction of so called "nuisance" birds & it will be checked & controlled in a more reasoned way.
kim
4/5/2019 12:01:39 am
No one wants to see any animals or birds dead, dying or suffering. Why is it necessary for people to keep going into the gory details re lamb's eye balls? It's not nice either when new born calves are dragged from their mums and killed is it?. Oh, if a human does it, it's okay is it? On a planet where we are wasting money going to the moon why can't we come up with an invention which scares birds off and use other means of keeping new born farm animals protected inside? Preferably not eat them at all.The fact that some birds have declined by as much as 95% is not all down to the long victimized Corvid species. Many factors are involved, man being the main one.
Reply
Tim Burke
4/5/2019 11:11:25 pm
I've always considered, from my own observations, that attacks on lambs by crows and magpies are fake news to justify persecution to boost game bird numbers. You would expect livestock to run from, or drive off a predator, but the birds ride around on the animals backs. I think that Robert Watson's post about the more powerful raven supports my opinion.
Reply
Carol Farnsworth
3/5/2019 12:01:31 pm
It seems to me that this government is doing its best to destroy all that is British. How they can call themselves 'Conservatives' when they are doing the opposite is beyond belief.
Reply
Kim
4/5/2019 12:04:26 am
Quite agree.
Reply
Nick
3/5/2019 12:02:09 pm
It is a complex issue. I have a smallholding. We have magpies breeding, they are very bold birds. They take swallows' eggs and chicks from the nests inside our barns - I've witnessed it personally. Yesterday I heard a commotion outside in our garden, looked out just in time - a magpie had a full-grown healthy male house sparrow in its beak. I chased the magpie off, it dropped the sparrow which, although dazed, flew away OK - in other words it wasn't a sick bird that the magpie had grabbed due to its weakness. Also the magpies aren't being controlled as much as in the "old days", which means they're breeding much closer to our buildings than they used to and therefore picking off the small birds that congregate/breed there which are relatively easy pickings. If the numbers of the corvids aren't controlled, the songbirds will diminish accordingly.
Reply
3/5/2019 09:58:15 pm
Yes but how is it that all these different birds have existed together for centuries & it didnt damage the numbers of small birds . Is it more to do with the decline of farm,woodland,garden birds etc due to humans so they cant thrive as well with their predators . I am aware of the problem myself with a thriving garden bird population i love but a handsome sparrowhawk is visiting, so what do you do,kill the sparrowhawk,he has to live too.
Reply
Heather Stewart
5/5/2019 09:45:00 am
Well said
gillian lee
4/5/2019 02:42:09 am
I agree with you Nick, every time my mare lies down to snooze in the sun magpies are trying to take her eyes out, they are as all corvids carnivorous birds.
Reply
Elizabeth Davies
5/5/2019 10:51:17 pm
Corvids do not do the damage that we do to animals . Whatever they do is for survival, we do for sport. Have you seen horses in a slaughter house? Or made to work until they collapse? Magpies don’t do anything like that!
Lesley Dickson
3/5/2019 12:23:51 pm
Having Defra involved would be s huge backward step.
Reply
roy speake
3/5/2019 12:27:53 pm
A Government ministry controlling something as 'sensitive' as licences for life or death has the makings of another rural disaster. Just check out the bovine tuberculosis and badger culling lash up. Little wonder Mr Gove's departed is referred to in agricultural circles as DETHRA!
Reply
K Daly
3/5/2019 12:43:36 pm
DeFRA have proved their incompetence time after time, ask any farmer! They are the last ministry to be entrusted with licences. The Environment Agency would be more appropriate.
Reply
Tina
3/5/2019 12:49:11 pm
What we seem to be forgetting is that the reason most birds can no longer hide from the successful predators is due to the horrendous lack of nesting & roosting sites. Every house once had thick hedges -gone-walls & fences because no one has time to look after them. Previous generations did it with hand shears! All the 1,000's of miles of rural hedging, ripped out as in the way of crops or trashed by machine trimming. A recent study of farm hedging showed over 80% in "poor" condition. No waste ground covered in thick brambles, gorse & nettles. Built on or "tidied up" for human leisure. The small birds don't stand a chance & the predators thrive. It is OUR fault.
Reply
Carola
3/5/2019 02:04:03 pm
Thank you Tina! If there were more habitats left for small birds to roost and nest in there would be more small birds and therefore a better balance between the larger predators would be maintained.
Reply
Tim H. Walker
3/5/2019 02:49:36 pm
Yes I agree too with Tina's comments. What initially alarmed me was the presence of Curlews on the hit list. They are a species of conservation concern, red listed I think so why oh why are they on the list? We know the French are shooting them ad infinitum so UK protection is even more vital.
Reply
Jacqui
4/5/2019 08:52:09 am
I agree with Tina and with many other statements here. I's ironic dont ypu think that the RSPB culls foxes and crows to protect curlews which are on Natural England's "death list"?
Trish
3/5/2019 03:41:20 pm
Well said Tina. Completely agree with you. Our rural property IS surrounded by hedges and we have great numbers of house sparrows breeding and living in our hedges and other places, as do others in the village. We also have all the other birds you would expect to get in the garden. We have a pair of Sparrowhawks somewhere nearby and they take their meals as and when they need. I wouldn't dream of tipping the fine balance of nature by destroying the Sparrowhawks. But you'll rarely find a single hedgerow in place all around the area I live. It's sad to see the lack of biodiversity within the countryside. I grew up in the coutryside and have lived within it most of my life. If you don't want a fox to get your chickens then make sure you protect the chickens better. If you don't want lambs injured/killed by these birds then bring the Ewes to safety at lambing time. It's not the bird's fault it has its natural instincts, it's the responsibility of humans to protect for their stock but not at cost to wildlife. It's not impossible. I so hope licencing doesn't move to DEFRA and agree too that dialogue needs to take place and these licences need revision of wording and process.
Reply
Mark Bevis
3/5/2019 03:43:54 pm
This is the least of it. As more land is taken over for housing, industry and industrialised farming, we are cramming nature into smaller and smaller spaces.
Reply
Denis Frost
3/5/2019 09:31:47 pm
Very well articulated. We have lost all sense of how abundant our wildlife once was and our place in the great scheme of things. Thank you.
Jacqui
4/5/2019 08:54:41 am
Well said Mark!
Jo
3/5/2019 04:45:39 pm
I live on the south coast in a village called Pagham
Reply
gillian lee
4/5/2019 02:58:44 am
This is the problem everywhere Jo - more and more infrastructure, traffic,housing etc.etc. I live in a rural area and every day I see animals and birds run over. This country is massively overcrowded and its now essential to keep our farmland for food production and maintain the wildlife we have left.
Paul Fisher
3/5/2019 04:45:46 pm
Spot on Tina. Replace hedgerows and allow existing ones to grow and thicken and birds will have a food source and places to nest and roost in safety. Replace meadows and allow verges to flower and birds will have more seed and insects. This is not rocket science, all we are asking for is to allow nature to balance itself and stop the destruction of our countryside. What we have instead is unbalanced industrial farming where any natural flora and fauna is a barrier to profit.
Reply
3/5/2019 10:04:08 pm
Exactly ,totally agree. General degradation of the environment making it more difficult for our wild birds to thrive.Thank goodness weve got orgs like the RSPB & the reserves specifically tailored to suit the differnet species.
Reply
Kim
4/5/2019 12:12:00 am
Spot on!
Reply
Heather Stewart
5/5/2019 09:48:31 am
You are so right.
Reply
Pamela Allen
9/5/2019 03:11:59 pm
Agreed Tina
Reply
Gerry
3/5/2019 01:07:45 pm
I have read a lot of the comments and looked around some other sites. I have spoken to a local farmer. My take on this, is that there does need to be some control put in place where local bird populations have developed a habit of attacking for example lambs and sheep. In the conversation with the local farmer, they have had attacks from crows in past years and this year they have had attacks from buzzards and kites (neither are rare in this area). His comment and it makes sense, is that once they develop the taste they persist with the attacks. It applies to all the preying species in his experience.
Reply
Tim H. Walker
3/5/2019 02:57:36 pm
You could argue that the abundance of sheep giving birth in the open is like giving a free meal for the natural world. Little wonder there is such animosity towards predators for every lamb is worth its weight in £'s to the farmer. Its short life to be terminated for human consumption. Instead of targeting wildlife that are considered a threat to your profits, how about providing sheds/barns for your birthing ewes?
Reply
Trish
3/5/2019 04:17:05 pm
I agree with you Tim. Gerry there are many farmers that lamb inside and protect their investment. Also both the Buzzard and Red Kite (to name but 2) were hunted almost to extinction and extinction. Both have been reintroduced. The Red Kite is firstly a scavenger bird and prefers carion in the main. The birds of prey have long been persecuted and thankfully, due to conservation many species are doing well in some areas. I feel it would be a massive backward step to even contemplate licencing control of birds of prey and carrion feeders surely shouldn't be licenced. As Tina has said, many of our smaller species of birds are endangered due to environment destruction and the relentless advancement of human encroachment. I doubt all licences will be revoked but in their current format they do not appear fit for purpose and to be dependant on the licencee to report back on any licence and provide numbers just beggars belief. If there is no other way than to do this then there is no licencing system because the system is open to abuse and is not appropriately monitored.
Kim
4/5/2019 12:27:06 am
Exactly! According to the vet series recently on TV ewes sometimes give birth to 2 or 3 lambs and often require assistance. Would it not make sense to keep them under cover to do this and protect them. Someone is probably going to say oh too expensive, need to be outside. Well what do you expect crows and the like to do when they see afterbirth ( I'm not talking eye here!) strewn in the fields, ignore it? Keep the animals inside.....
John Lumbard
3/5/2019 05:30:06 pm
There are an estimated 33 million sheep in the U.K.- so hardly an endangered species.
Reply
Richard Dowden
3/5/2019 01:19:58 pm
What do people feel about the Australian green parrots? I have not seen a single woodpecker for years. The last one I saw - a Great Spotted in my garden - was being mobbed by three green monsters.
Reply
Rosemary Smith
3/5/2019 02:47:41 pm
I am fed up with the increase in magpies - we sometimes get at least 10 in the garden and I hate seeing tiny dead birds lined up along the path, taken from our nesting boxes.We never saw a crow and now these are making their mark. I feel for the farmers - it is afterall their livelihood and they should be allowed to dispense with these predators. I believe the RSPB were in agreement with this and I will not be renewing my membership.
Reply
John Lumbard
3/5/2019 07:34:40 pm
I am not keen on magpies in my garden during nesting time. But the magpie is only living how nature intended it to live, and magpies kill far less birds than human activity which encroaches more and more into the natural environment.
Reply
Heather Stewart
5/5/2019 10:17:46 am
Well said.
Pamela Allen
9/5/2019 03:17:04 pm
Agreed John
Alan Brooks
3/5/2019 06:18:40 pm
Some of the views expressed here and the policies of Natural England / Wild Justice are simply unbalanced.
Reply
Kim
4/5/2019 12:44:56 am
Alan,
Reply
Heather Stewart
5/5/2019 10:19:08 am
Totally agree.
Wilf
4/5/2019 07:56:49 am
Stop humans reproducing. We are the top predators at the top of the food chain and our numbers are out of control. By reduction we will need less of everything and hopefully leave resources for all the other inhabitants of this planet. Oh and maybe reduce global warming as well. The uncomfortable truth is that we are the problem.
Reply
Heather Stewart
5/5/2019 10:19:44 am
Spot on .
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
If you appreciate what I write about, please consider showing your support by buying me a virtual coffee!
Click the button below! Thanks :) Archives
July 2023
|